Finance committee  I think that any of their U.S. presence would have been separate and apart from this but in relation to their Canadian operations and indeed their third country operations outside of the U.S., it would have been as I described. That is to say, they would have had these issues wit

Finance committee  We are aware of the comment. I can give you a moment now, and then we can see where that takes us. Yes, we are aware of their view. It's that we haven't fully complied with, effectively, our commitment and agreement with the United States and what we've done in our implementing

Finance committee  Just to help situate myself, these are comments by Arthur Cockfield or...?

Finance committee  Well, the immediate asymmetry and ongoing sort of quest for symmetry is something that can be the subject of comment, and people could think or suggest that Canada ought to have sought immediate symmetry or reciprocity or equivalence and not agreed to it without having done so. I

Finance committee  I had a role in it, yes, sir.

Finance committee  He did the heavy lifting.

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  Thank you. First of all can I just make a comment?

Finance committee  I think people do confuse FATCA with IGA, where in fact the IGA displaces FATCA. It says instead of FATCA we'll do this, so that is an important point. I would also say that as a result of FATCA and the discussion around it and FBAR a couple of years ago I think there are a numb

Finance committee  I think that's right. So in the absence of an IGA—and I don't want to sound apocalyptic but there were very serious issues. The U.S. said it was about exchange of information and it's always been about the exchange of information but their penalty, their lever, under FATCA to ge

Finance committee  That's right. There's a question of—as I say—the reliability of our treaty partner. We do take the view that we can rely on the U.S. to limit it's use of the tax information as, indeed, they rely on us.

Finance committee  Yes. That would be inconsistent with their commitments to us and their legislation, so it would only be on the basis that they were violating the agreement that it could happen.

Finance committee  Well, the answer is no, because we challenge the premise of the question—

Finance committee  We exchange information already with the U.S. and with other treaty partners, on which we rely on the terms of the agreement we have with them.

Finance committee  Forgive me, I'm not sure if I understand how they're affected in the way you suggest.